Purdue fires Ryan Walters: Boilermakers oust coach after dismal 1-11 file in 2024 season

Purdue has fired coach Ryan Walters after two seasons, the college introduced on Sunday. The Boilermakers completed their season with a 66-0 loss to rival Indiana on Saturday to complete the season 1-11 and not using a win towards FBS competitors. The loss dropped the Boilermakers to 5-19 all through Walters’ two seasons on the helm, together with a mark of 3-15 in Big Ten play. CBS Sports first reported the information of Walters’ firing on Sunday morning. 

Walters was employed to switch Jeff Brohm previous to the 2024 season. He’s spent the earlier two seasons as defensive coordinator at Illinois and led the most effective defenses within the nation in 2022, which helped the Illini go 8-5, their finest season since profitable 9 video games in 2007. Unfortunately, Walters was not in a position to convey that very same defensive efficiency with him east to West Lafayette, Indiana.

In his two seasons, the Boilermakers allowed a median of 35.2 factors per sport and allowed at the very least 40 factors in eight of 24 video games. This season alone Purdue has performed 5 video games towards groups more likely to be chosen for the College Football Playoff (Indiana, Notre Dame, Ohio State, Oregon and Penn State) and was outscored 261-17 in these 5 video games.

It’s a deficit that will have been extra acceptable, however the Boilermakers did not fare significantly better towards the remainder of their schedule, both. Of their 19 losses below Walters, solely 5 got here by fewer than two scores.

While the protection was a critical difficulty, there wasn’t any success on the offensive facet of the ball to offset it, both. Walters fired offensive coordinator Graham Harrell earlier this season and took over playcalling duties on offense himself initially. While there was early success because the Boilermakers put up 49 factors towards Illinois in defeat, it was fleeting; they managed solely 47 factors of their ultimate six video games and have been shut out 3 times.

Things have been additionally deteriorating on the recruiting path, as Purdue’s 2025 recruiting class has just lately suffered a wave of decommitments forward of the Dec. 4 National Signing Day. The class is all the way down to 9 commitments and ranks 97th nationally within the 247Sports Composite, which is 36 spots decrease than the following class within the Big Ten (Northwestern, 61st).

All in all, it isn’t a shock this occurred. Before the season started, the Boilermakers misplaced their finest participant on each side of the ball in 2024 to the switch portal. Wide receiver Deion Burks left for Oklahoma whereas edge rusher Nic Scourton transferred to Texas A&M. It’s an indication that Walters did not have the monetary assist essential within the present panorama of faculty soccer to compete on the degree Purdue hopes to compete at. It’ll be attention-grabbing to see how Purdue handles that as they give the impression of being to discover a succesful substitute this offseason.

Coach openings, 2024-25